Songs for the Earth is a fusion of folk, jazz and classical music, inspired by our need to connect with nature and the outdoors.

A relaxed performance, suitable for all ages, and the programme will include arrangements of nature-inspired music from Celtic, Nordic, North & South American, Eastern European and Middle-Eastern traditions – some will be traditional folk songs from hundreds of years ago, others will be more recent songs by songwriters of today. Some of this music you will know, some maybe not.

This programme is curated, directed and arranged by violinist Bridget O’Donnell, originally from Sydney, who is part of London’s dynamic free-lance classical scene and plays regularly in chamber and contemporary groups as well as with the city’s top orchestras, and jazz bass player, composer, arranger and bandleader Misha Mullov-Abbado (2017 BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist) whose own group performs every year at the EFG London Jazz Festival and has also been part of the fabric of the city’s bustling jazz scene for many years.

Both have worked together on a release for October House Records, and more recently with Sinfonia Cymru introducing this very programme for the first time ever, where they shared some of their arrangements and recordings of this music on Cerys Matthews’ show on BBC 6 Music.  

The full ensemble will be a five-piece string group made up of the UK’s finest young talent in the classical, contemporary and jazz scenes, and during two forty-minute sets of music this band will take you through a range of different styles and moods, with the whole concert being upbeat, informal and entertaining. This is how the last night of this year’s festival should be spent – sitting back, relaxing, soaking up great music.